The face of the corpse—cold, lifeless, devoid of even a trace of vitality.
Pale skin, tightly shut eyes, silent as if it had long departed from this world.
A face completely unfamiliar.
And yet—
The young girl felt something eerily familiar.
A strange, inexplicable closeness as she stood before that body.
The feeling of kinship? No... not that.
It was something far deeper.
As if an invisible thread bound her to the lifeless figure—
Tightly, unbreakably—
As though they were two halves of the same being.
Suddenly—
"Ah... ugh..."
Without warning, a searing pain tore through her entire body—
As if flesh and bone were being ripped apart.
It was a pain unlike anything she had ever known.
So intense, so numbing, it shattered her consciousness.
Her legs buckled.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
Kyouno collapsed beside the corpse, face ashen, gasping for breath like someone at death's door.
Terror flooded her dull, fading eyes.
"What... is happening to me...?"
She couldn't think.
She couldn't feel.
Only fear and the agony that shredded her very soul remained.
It was as if life itself was draining out of her.
Her mind went numb, her body felt like it was breaking apart.
That overwhelming sensation blurred her vision—
And it felt as though her very existence
Was slipping away from this world.
At that moment—
She was truly experiencing something called death.
In the final moment, just as her consciousness was about to shatter—
Kyouno reached out,
Using the last ounce of strength she had left...
And touched the cold, lifeless hand of the corpse.
That hand...
Frozen stiff like ice.
Yet—
The instant their hands met—
BOOM—!
A violent shockwave erupted through Kyouno's mind.
In that moment—
The two bodies—
Seemed to fuse into one.
As if they were no longer two, but one entity.
Around them, the space began to fracture.
The backdrop of the world, like fragile panes of glass,
Cracked and shattered piece by piece,
Revealing what lay behind the illusion.
And the last thing that lingered in the girl's fading vision—
Was a sight beyond comprehension.
A breathtaking collision—
Of worlds merging into one.
....
"Haa… haa…"
Ragged breaths echoed through the otherwise silent room.
On a small wooden bed, the young girl bolted upright, her body stiff beneath thick layers of fur blankets.
Cold sweat soaked her back, each rapid breath causing her chest to heave uncontrollably.
Her disheveled emerald hair fell like a curtain, partly veiling her pale, delicate face—now clouded with a heavy gloom.
Her brows furrowed tightly. Her lifeless eyes stared into some distant void, as if she was still trapped within the remnants of a lingering dream.
She had been sitting there for a long while, ever since waking from that strange, haunting dream.
Everything in it—surreal, hazy—yet terrifyingly vivid.
But the thing that etched itself most deeply into her mind...
Was the pain.
That numbing, shattering pain—so real she could feel it in every fiber of her being.
And alongside it... the image of that girl's body.
Lost in thought, Kyouno suddenly flinched.
She looked up and glanced around the room.
Mana was nowhere to be seen.
Her eyes widened, disbelief flashing across her face.
Strange...
She knew her older sister all too well—
Mana was the biggest late sleeper in the family. Normally, it took Mom—or Kyouno herself—calling her over and over to get her out of bed. And even then, only after the sun was already high in the sky.
Yet now...
When she looked out the window, the sky hadn't even fully brightened—it was barely the break of dawn.
Had Mana already gotten up?
With suspicion blooming in her chest,
Kyouno stepped out of the room, her pace slow and cautious as she walked along the narrow hallway toward the main room.
No one.
No Mana.
No Mom.
The house was eerily empty.
Not a single familiar sound.
A sense of unease began to well up inside her.
Deep within, something told her—
Something was terribly wrong.
And then—
The moment her hand gently pushed open the door—
What met her eyes was no longer the peaceful forest she knew so well…
But a scene so horrifying—
It took her breath away.
Burning…
The entire forest was ablaze.
The snowy woods—once blanketed in pure white, a symbol of peace and serenity—now roared in the fury of flames.
Snow was no longer the emblem of purity. It melted in despair, large clumps falling to the ground like the cold tears of a dying earth.
Fire—like ferocious dragons—raged atop the towering trees, surging like wild waves, consuming every branch, every root.
The mountains and forest were dying.
And that death—violent and merciless—played out like a tragic requiem no one could stop in time.
"No… this can't be…"
Kyouno whispered, her voice trembling.
Her eyes were locked on the scene before her—terrifying, chaotic, like a twisted nightmare come to life.
All around the house, the fire gnawed away at everything she once knew, devouring it piece by piece.
Kyouno instinctively stepped back, her body trembling uncontrollably.
"BOOM!!!"
A thunderous explosion ripped through the air, shaking the snow-covered mountains to their core.
The sound burst from behind the house, making her heart jolt in terror.
And as she scrambled around to see what had happened—
Kyouno's breath caught.
Behind the house was now a wasteland of despair.
Thick black smoke churned above shattered ground.
The trees had been reduced to smoldering ruins, their skeletal remains twisted and charred, writhing in the wind.
Flaming embers still rained down on melting snow.
Snow and fire—opposites that should never coexist—
Now clashed violently before her eyes.
Each droplet of melted snow hit the ground like blood from a deep, festering wound—
A grim omen of a world on the brink of annihilation.
Kyouno stood frozen.
Eyes wide in shock, her mind spinning.
She no longer understood what was happening.
And then—
A chill raced down her spine.
Every hair on her body stood on end.
A vague but overwhelming sense of danger crept through her fingertips, her toes, seeping into every inch of her being.
She looked up—
And saw it.
A blade.
A dragon.
No—both.
A blazing, dragon-shaped wave of sword energy exploded into view, surging through space like a bolt of divine wrath.
Kyouno's body went numb. She wanted to run, to move—
But her legs refused to obey. Frozen in panic, she stood helpless.
Before her eyes, that fiery blade carried a killing intent so chilling, it felt like death itself was bearing down on her.
It came too fast—so fast, all she could do was stare, paralyzed in fear.
"KYOUNOOO!!!"
A scream—raw and desperate—pierced the air.
And then—
Two arms—soft yet powerful like a storm wind—
Shoved her away from her spot with all their might.
Kyouno was thrown to the ground. The world spun around her, blurred and chaotic.
Before she could even process what had happened—
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
A scream—agony-filled and blood-curdling—echoed through the burning forest.
Kyouno's body reacted before her mind did.
She turned back.
And in that instant—
Time froze.
Space shattered.
....